Fish 2.0 Articles

Four years into building the Fish 2.0 network, I thought I could see the future of seafood 10 years on the horizon, and at the dawn of 2017 I boldly called out seven seismic changes I thought we would see by 2027. Turns out I was wrong.

Halfway through 2019, as we reviewed the global range of businesses coming to workshops and our online portals, I realized that most of the shifts I’d identified were

Today, sustainable seafood is an exciting innovation field, with the potential to improve ocean health while ultimately remaking the $390 billion global seafood industry. To name just a few signs of change: Underwater sensors, robots, cameras and big data tools are creating an Internet of Fish. Algae is shedding its green-slime image and becoming a glamorous super-ingredient. Oyster farming is surging back to life as an economic engine and environmental asset. And traceability and transparency solutions are giving seafood buyers a much-needed look at the

Many people and organizations, as well as broad market and social trends, contributed to sustainable seafood’s arrival at this place. Everyone who engaged helped build the network; and because they did, our oceans and plates are going to be healthier.

Today, sustainable seafood is an exciting innovation field, with the potential to improve ocean health while ultimately remaking the $390 billion global seafood industry. To name just a few signs of change: Underwater sensors, robots, cameras and big data tools are creating an

Seafood has blown past its iceberg lettuce stage and entered trendy greens territory, with eaters loading up on oceanic superfoods and falling in love with previously unknown species as fast as daters swipe right. Even inland-dwelling locavores can easily satisfy their seafood cravings. What once was waste is now a premium snack, or maybe a wallet. We get that farmed fish is good — in every sense of that word. Mystery fish are a thing of the past. Sustainability is a minimum standard, not a luxury.

Seafood has blown past its iceberg lettuce stage and entered trendy greens territory, with eaters loading up on oceanic superfoods and falling in love with previously unknown species as fast as daters swipe right. Even inland-dwelling locavores can easily satisfy their seafood cravings. What once was waste is now a premium snack, or maybe a wallet. We get that farmed fish is good—in every sense of that word. Mystery fish are a thing of the past. Sustainability is a minimum standard, not a

Someday we’ll have an Internet of Fish. Underwater sensors, robots and cameras will reveal sea creatures to catch and avoid, changing ocean conditions and goings-on in farmed fish pens — all at the tap of an app. Someday we won’t stare at the seafood counter wondering if a "halibut" is really a halibut and where it came from. Someday methane-eating bacteria will clean the atmosphere and produce fish feed ingredients in the process.

Land-based aquaculture can sound like a mirage — shrimp farms in the desert, salmon swimming "upstream" in an alpine village tank, tilapia swishing over the plains. And for a long time, ample production of sea delicacies in recirculating aquaculture systems (RAS) has been more dream than reality. Yet the technology and its innovators steadily have gained momentum and finally may be hitting their tipping point.

The allure of fish grown on land is easy to understand: Like all aquaculture, it reduces demand for wild fish, but unlike with

Aquaculture’s revolution is well underway, with more opportunities on the horizon.

Underwater robots roving about as ranch hands of the sea, their electronic eyes recording the health, size, and numbers of fish swimming in offshore corrals. Automatic feeders activated by the sound of

A Tasmanian company has invented acoustics technology that feeds farmed shrimp and fish through sound. Other Australian ventures are working on turning abalone waste into bioactive pharmaceuticals, developing low-cost processes that clean fish-farming waters while nourishing commercial algae production, and more original solutions to seafood challenges.

Investment in seafood-related startups appears to be gathering steam with increased awareness of the huge market possibilities. What would you estimate to be the level of investment in seafood-related start-ups last year? Do you expect a steeper growth curve this year?

Monica: While I have not seen investment numbers of seafood-related startups broken out, our experience with Fish 2.0

Fish 2.0 brings together startups and investors that want to make seafood more sustainable. Founder Monica Jain says emerging technologies and market forces will push the industry to change – sooner rather than later.

WHEN 40 STARTUPS from all over the world gathered at Stanford University in November, it was not a typical Silicon Valley pitch day. The entrepreneurs competing in the Fish 2.0 Innovation Forum saw themselves more like

If you’re a talented young data scientist scouting the next frontier, where do you go? If you’re a biotech pioneer hunting for new ways to apply cutting-edge concepts, where do you look? If you’re a global powerhouse that doesn’t want to miss the next big market opportunity, what’s on your radar?

If you sell, you’ve probably practiced your elevator pitch, that condensed, to-the-point message that sums up the most essential information about you, your business or the product or service you offer.

Over the past five years, as I’ve built the Fish 2.0 business competition, I’ve seen an overwhelming number of creative ideas bubbling up—with highly qualified entrepreneurial teams behind them. Their innovations, combined with powerful social and environmental forces, are creating a new world both above and below the ocean’s surface.

When you browse the fish counter or order off a seafood menu, can you be sure the species label is accurate and the fish was caught or farmed ethically? In many cases, the answer is no. A 2014 report in Marine Policy estimates that over 20 percent of wild-captured seafood imported into the U.S. comes from illegal fisheries, and a ...

You know what there’s really plenty of in the sea? Algae. And I am in love with them. Most people envision algae as slimy, possibly toxic, green scum. But this diverse group of fast-growing aquatic plants is about to undergo an image makeover, and may soon seem flat-out glamorous.

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